95 Percent of NCAA Brackets Are Already Knocked Out

95 Percent of NCAA Brackets Are Already Knocked Out

A pair of Harvard players console Justin Jackson (#5) of the Cincinnati Bearcats after Harvard won their Round of 64 game on Thursday

Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images

We’re one day into March Madness and if you’re still working with a perfect bracket, give yourself a pat on the back. The Associated Press reports about 95 percent of brackets missed at least one pick in the first eight games.

The two big party crashers: Dayton and Harvard. Dayton (No. 11 seed) knocked out Ohio State (No. 6 seed) along with 83 percent of Yahoo brackets, 81 percent of CBS brackets, and over 80 percent of ESPN brackets. Later in the afternoon, Harvard (No. 12 seed) took down Cincinnati (No. 5 seed), bringing the overall bracket failure rate to the 95 percent range.*

Compared to last year, the numbers don’t look so ugly. Consider this stat: Not a single person of the 11 million who filled out picks on ESPN's website last year had a perfect bracket after one day of play.